


CinderMantha

by MeansToOffend (goodmorning)



Series: 31 in 31: NHL Fairy Tales [5]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Detroit Red Wings, Fairy Tale Retellings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 10:55:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12034443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmorning/pseuds/MeansToOffend
Summary: "Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings):We want to invite one of our ice crew to join our team! If you’re the one who left this skate at the rink last night, come by this morning to try it on!"





	CinderMantha

Once upon a time there was an ice crew member who loved to skate. His name was Anthony, but all the other ice crew members called him CinderMantha, for the way he skated like to set the ice on fire. He often stayed late to do so, as well as to make the ice perfect, and he knew all the security guards by name.

CinderMantha, then, was well-loved by all who knew him, and he was happy in his job. But, like all people, he had a dream: he wished he was an NHL player.

He knew, of course, that this was not likely to happen, but he still sometimes pretended he was when he skated each night. Truthfully, his job on the ice crew was kind of draining, but even skating through the exhaustion on real NHL ice still felt better than anything to him.

One night, however, when he was trying to time himself skating laps, something happened. He had just reached his phone to press the stopwatch timer when he heard a low whistle from the tunnel. It so surprised him that he nearly fell over, and when he turned and saw who it was, he did.

It was Dylan Larkin. CinderMantha prepared himself to be kicked out, but the NHLer just looked at him consideringly.

“How are you at using that stick?” Larkin finally asked.

“Why don’t you come find out?” CinderMantha replied, and the two of them played for hours, until one of the security guards came out of the tunnel and nodded to them. “Shit, that’s Steve,” said CinderMantha. “It must be midnight, we’ve got to go.”

“It’s been fun,” replied Larkin, with a wink.

The next day the Red Wings announced that they wanted to sign one of their ice crew to a PTO.

“What the fuck,” said CinderMantha, frowning at his phone.

_Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings):  
We want to invite one of our ice crew to join our team! If you’re the one who left this skate at the rink last night, come by this morning to try it on!_

It wasn’t his skate. But nobody else had been at the rink last night. So this was a puzzle.

Still, maybe the skate would fit him, even if it wasn’t his? CinderMantha decided to take the chance. That was how he found himself at the end of a long line of ice crew members, edging slowly forward to where the skate was waiting in a circle of press, safe in the hands of a kneeling, suited, smiling Larkin.

He cleaned up well, sure, but somebody needed to teach him how to buy a suit. Honestly, CinderMantha thought he'd looked better on the ice last night. Still, his face was well worth seeing, even with the bland press expression he had on for this, and it kept him distracted until it was his turn to try the skate.

Larkin smiled up at him and slid it onto his foot.

It fitted perfectly. What the fuck?

“What the fuck?” he whispered into Larkin’s ear as the two of them shook hands and embraced.

“Front office wanted a press gimmick, sorry,” Larkin whispered back.

Then he was being taken down into the locker room, and Larkin was with him, and they were being left alone to change.

“But why me?” he asked, then, and Larkin favoured him with the same bright smile as the night before.

“You’re really good. And, plus,” he said, with another wink, as he walked out the door, “I like blonds.” 

CinderMantha was floored, but refused to let it show. Springing up, he rushed to the hall as fast as his skates would allow, catching up to Larkin before they reached the ice. Crowding him to the wall, CinderMantha leant down to whisper one last thing in Larkin’s ear.

“That wasn’t even my fucking skate.”

**Author's Note:**

> \- The line "This isn't even my fucking skate" miiight possibly have been the impetus for this whole series.


End file.
